Wreck
by FearandLoathingXIX
Summary: Blurred lines in Bullworth academy. Jimmy can pull people to him like a magnet, but there are some better off not sticking.
1. 1

I've already got this bouncing around the Bully BL Livejournal but I figured I'd throw this up here too.

Warnings for homphobia and slash.

* * *

Wreck

* * *

Gary was in a mood again. Gary was always in a mood. His life was a string of ups and downs in a world where he saw everyone as counters in a game that existed just for his amusement, and half the time he still hated the rules, players and especially the dice that controlled it.

"Gooood day, Petey," he cat-called in the warm quiet of the afternoon; in this heat most people were outside, and even Pete had shed his Bullworth jumper, just his pink shirt and slacks as he laid across the dorm sofa and stared up at the ceiling. "Why, you're looking extraordinarily effeminate today. Your fainting couch awaits," he concluded with an elaborate gesture, and Pete sat up with an almost guilty air.

"Whatever, Gary," he said sourly.

"You've got to flaunt it if you want to get it," Gary taunted, as a greaser wandered in, kicked a can out of the vending machine and back out again. Gary watched him with hawk eyes, feigning surprise and delight the moment the boy turned his back. "Good taste, Petey," he continued mercilessly. "He didn't look this time, but undo a few buttons and you'll have him next time for sure."

"Leave off," Pete mumbled. He didn't choose to wear pink shirts, his mother just put a red dress in with his school uniform a long time ago and they'd all been like that ever since. He didn't want to admit to the mistake, so had passed it off as a fashion choice.

"So surly," Gary tutted. "You'll never get a nice boy like that, lil' petey."

"I don't want a nice boy," Pete retorted.

"Ohh, a bad boy then," Gary mocked. "One who'll pull your hair and tell you how pathetic you are as he-"

"Ahhh!" Pete interjected, yelping and putting his hands over his ears. "I don't wanna know!"

"You'll have to know eventually," Gary argued. "How else will you be able to consummate your fragile forbidden faggotry," he added, seeming pleased with the alliteration.

"I'm not gay," Pete protested, and Gary laughed hysterically, like he'd been gassed or something.

"Why deny it?" he challenged, as the door of J. Hopkins's room swung open and Jimmy strolled out in three-quarter lengths, a black vest and not much else. "You can't expect to engage in your disgusting perversion if you don't at least admit to wanting it."

"Whose disgusting perversion?" Jimmy echoed critically, spying Gary on the warpath from ten feet away.

"Ah! Speak of the devil, and lo he will appear," Gary cheered, throwing up his hands like a preacher. "Now, Petey," he said with a conspiratorial air, leaning close to the boy and throwing an arm around his neck. "You should be taking notes from someone like Jimmy. Maybe even taking his co-"

"I'm not gay!" Pete cried again, jostling Gary away from him and then noticing Jimmy's eyes on him, eyebrows slightly raised; even Jimmy didn't believe him.

"So all of those male underwear magazines just appeared in your room?" Gary provoked.

"You put them there!"

"To encourage you, Petey, to help you see the truth of your sickness."

"Gary why don't you shut the fuck up," Jimmy said suddenly, his voice slamming out like a hammer across the room. Gary turned to face him with a face like thunder, eyes like hard, polished stones spat out from a volcano.

"Sticking up for him, James?" Gary questioned with a quiet, threatening tone. "Funny, I don't see a white horse between your legs. Is it waiting at the back of the line to get there?"

"Petey's not sick, and he can fuck who he wants," Jimmy said bluntly, wandering across to the soda machine like Gary wasn't trying to burn him up with just a glare. Things hadn't been the same since the fight with Russell; more and more people liked Jimmy, and it only made Gary madder.

"Ah yes, the great enlightened motto of J. Hopkins," Gary proclaimed. "Have you ever considered a career in giftcard mottos?"

"I'm just sayin', it ain't none of your business who he wants to fuck," Jimmy said stubbornly, and Pete wished he could just melt away and soak into the sofa; he didn't need Jimmy trying to stick up for him because even he thought he was gay too.

"Jimmy, it's okay, I'm not actually gay-" he started to say in as convincing a voice as he could manage.

"I don't remember askin' you that," Jimmy snapped back brutally, his eyes riveting back on Gary. "I just don't like hearing this piece of slime talk shit about what's someone's personal business."

"Except for the person you're putting that diseased swizzle-stick into," Gary retorted with a sort of furious glee, as if he enjoyed being made so incarnately angry. Jimmy was one of the only people stupid and aggressive enough to try and go up against him. "I'd consider it their business."

"Sure," Jimmy agreed, and then looked down at the front of his pants, as if to check them, "but I don't appear to be fucking you, Gary, so I'd consider it your place to shut your damn mouth for once."

"Was that an invitation?" he shot with twisted delight.

"Fuck no," Jimmy growled.

"And really, here I thought you'd go for anything with a pulse," Gary leered. "Girl, boy... mammal..."

"Yeah, sure," said Jimmy, "but I don't figure you fall under any of those, Gary."

"I suppose I do have more of a godlike aura," he lorded. "I certainly seem to be the only male left in this school without any kind of depraved urges."

"You're kidding, right? You're the most depraved of the lot," Jimmy snorted.

"And here I thought the mark of depravity was letting you put your dick in them," Gary purred venomously. "Have you been molesting me in my sleep or something? Wouldn't put it past you."

"Like I'd be that desperate," Jimmy said boredly.

"No, I suppose you have all your little fags lined up, just waiting for a chance to-"

"You call me or anyone else a fag again and I'll put your head through that fucking window, Gary," Jimmy snarled suddenly, and it occurred to Pete that he wasn't just trying to pick a fight because Gary had been teasing him - that it was about more than that. That maybe it was personal.

"But you are, aren't you?" Gary gloated. "Or should I ask Trent... or Gord... or Vance. I really can't keep track, which one is it currently?" Pete had seen Jimmy hanging out with those guys before, but Jimmy hung out with everyone, so why pick them? All the girls liked Jimmy, they even got into fights about who he liked most - he couldn't be-

"None of your damn business," Jimmy countered. "Who I'm fucking is the business of me and that person, Gary, so unless you'd like to hop on then you can just shut the hell up," he concluded with a crude gesture at his crotch, presenting it like a spare seat in the canteen.

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Gary spat like he had a mouth full of broken glass.

"Not as much as you fuckin' would," Jimmy bit back, totally deadpan and not a hint of hesitation in his voice. "Petey, you shouldn't listen to this prick," he said anew, speaking straight through Gary like he'd vanished in a split second. He checked the clock on the wall, punched the buttons on the vending machine for another soda, and then cracked it with a snap, letting the foam overflow and run out onto the floor.

"Practicing for later?" Gary taunted, and Jimmy drained the contents of the can in a few gulps. "Oh, you are practicing," he added lewdly, while Jimmy crushed the can in his hand and then threw it at Gary's head, who swatted it aside like a fly.

"Gary, you can shut the fuck up, or I can put your face through a window. The choice really is yours," he announced uninterestedly, as a couple of bullies wandered through and checked in on Jimmy, looking for a nod of approval like pack dogs bowing down to the boss. Gary eyed them enviously, as if it should to be him they looked at for recognition.

"I'll leave you girls alone," he purred sarcastically, not totally managing to disguise his bitterness, and making a mockery of a bow and then some dick-sucking actions as he backed away, before finally turning away to find some other poor bastard to pick on.

"What an asshole," Jimmy muttered, stretching out in the space on the sofa and edging Pete further into the side.

"You didn't have to do that, Jimmy," he said quietly.

"Do what?" he asked dumbly.

"Stick up for me like that... I mean, you didn't have to say-"

"Who said I was sticking up for you?" Jimmy interrupted. "I just don't like it when he goes around callin' people names like they're sick or something. He's the one who's fucked in the head," he proclaimed.

"So you... meant... all that stuff?" Pete inquired as coolly as he could manage.

"What stuff?"

"About, uh... about you... and... you know-"

"What are you trying to get at, Petey? That I'll fool around with anyone?" he suggested crudely.

"No! I didn't-" he tried to backtrack desperately.

"Well... I pretty much will," Jimmy replied casually, an open admission. "A fuck's a fuck," he added with a shrug.

"You mean like... girls, right?" Pete say awkwardly, and Jimmy raised an eyebrow at him.

"The fuck do you think I do with guys back in my room?" he challenged. "Play chess?" Pete knew that some of the guys in the dorm didn't always spend all the night in their rooms, but he put it down to some kind of clique-ruling stuff. His eyes must have boggled, because Jimmy gave him a look and started to laugh. "Don't you listen to any of the rumours?" he chuckled.

"What rumours? No one tells me anything!" Pete protested, and Jimmy sniggered again.

"Holy shit, Petey, I knew you were naive... but really," he snorted. "Gary might be a fuck, but he wasn't making shit up about Gord and Vance and those other dudes. Hell, Lola dropped me because she didn't like that I'd blow her off for guys... and that guys blew her off for me," he added offhandedly. "Actually, I think that pissed her off more," he added with a dirty chuckle. "Well shit, you could try to look less surprised," he commented.

"Sorry!" Pete yelped. "I mean, I didn't- I wasn't!"

"Calm the fuck down," Jimmy said jokingly, as one of the bullies, Trent, walked through.

"Heeey, Jimmy," he slurred, going straight over to the sofa as Jimmy held up a hand; they bumped fists and then drew fingertips across one another's palm, pulling out into a snap. Jimmy looked back at Pete, and then a wicked smirk spread across his face as Trent strolled over to the games machine and started pounding at the buttons.

"Hey, Trent," he called out, leaning back all the way over one end of the sofa and stared at him upside-down. "C'mere a sec." Trent turned and returned curiously, while Jimmy picked his head up to wink at Pete, then leant back again. "Gimmie some love, man," he baited, and Trent looked at him suspiciously, then across at Pete. "Forget about him, he's cool," Jimmy insisted with a grin, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. "What, you chicken-shit or something?"

"Fuck no," Trent bit, and then in a sudden movement leant all the way over and kissed Jimmy right on the mouth. The second he did Jimmy's hands moved, one grabbing a fistful of Trent's hair and pulling him down hard, twisting his head aside and sticking his tongue right into the bully's mouth. Pete had never felt so uncomfortable in his life, but at the same time he couldn't help but notice how natural it seemed to Jimmy - the confidence, the crooked grin on his lips as he released Trent and let him stand back up.

"See ya, sugar," he said with faux-sweetness, and Trent scowled a bit.

"You owe me for that," he muttered.

"Sure thing, baby, I'll make it up to you," Jimmy purred, giving Trent the wink this time. "My room, nine 'o clock." For a moment it was quiet, like the cogs in the other guy's head were turning at their slow, brain-damaged rate.

"Yeah, okay," Trent conceded, and then turned to wander back out.

"You look like you seen a ghost, Petey," Jimmy taunted, and then his gaze turned cruel. "You got a problem with what you just saw?" he challenged with a deadly edge in his voice.

"No!" he rushed with a bit of a squeak. "I mean- if that's what you... I don't have a problem. Not at all."

"Good," Jimmy replied surely. "That's what I like to hear. So Gary can go fuck himself, right?" he suggested sharply.

"Right," Pete agreed.

"-Cause no one else will do it for him," Jimmy continued, and then cracked up at his own joke. Pete tried to laugh, but it didn't really work out. "Shit, man, you got to fuckin' relax," Jimmy commented. "You look like you're about to puke or something."

"I'm f-fine," he mumbled.

"Maybe you do need to get laid or something," he joshed. "What are you into? Girls? Boys?" he suggested brightly - there was clearly no difference for him between the two. Pete mumbled so softly even he barely understood what he was saying. "What? Speak up."

"I dunno," Pete murmured awkwardly, going even redder in the heat.

"Whaddya mean you don't know?" he shot. "Ain't it simple? You wanna screw chicks or dicks? How hard can it be?"

"Maybe it's simple for you!" he snapped, and then caught himself. Jimmy looked surprised as fuck. Pete wondered if he should run now and try to escape the beating that was bound to come, or just accept it as an inevitability.

"All right, Petey, take it easy," he placated, which was not the reaction Pete had been expecting. "Your business is your business, I was just askin'."

"Sorry, Jimmy," he said weakly. "I didn't mean to go at you."

"It's cool," he said. "So, what, you just not decided yet or something?"

"I said I don't know," he bit. "I mean, I don't like anyone at this school... not that way, yunno. They're all just as horrible as each other." Why would he like anyone at Bullworth? Gary and Jimmy were the only ones even reasonably nice to him, and Gary was a total psychopath - Jimmy wasn't much better. The girls ignored him or made fun of him, even the nerds picked on him if they had numbers on their side. He couldn't think of anything worse than touching one of them any more than he had to.

"What, me too?" Jimmy challenged, the question loaded like a bottle-rocket.

"Well not you," he replied, "but I mean... that doesn't mean I wanna, you know..."

"You don't wanna 'you know' with me," Jimmy mocked. "So where do like, handjobs fall in that category?"

"Jimmy!" he shot.

"I'm just askin'," he taunted. "I don't know what your crazy innuendos mean."

"Well yes... that's included," he forced uncomfortably.

"Okay... so... you don't wanna give me a handjob?" Jimmy phrased bluntly, clearly bucking for a reaction going by the look of dumb amusement on his face. "I mean, Trent isn't gonna be around til nine, and I got all afternoon off."

"No!" Pete rushed, mortified by the very idea, while Jimmy was quiet only for dramatic effect.

"... And you don't want me to give you one either?" he added, as if that were another matter entirely.

"No!" Pete squawked again. "Isn't that the same thing?"

"You try it and tell me," Jimmy taunted, letting out a laugh. "You're going red, Petey," he mocked.

"You're saying weird stuff," he replied.

"Oh, sorry," Jimmy said with a voice like acid. "Didn't realise it was weird - if you're gonna be like Gary..."

"I'm not like Gary," he argued irately. "I just... you're making this difficult on purpose!" he accused. "Just because I don't want you to... if I was going to do something with someone, I'd want it to be special," he blurted at last, and Jimmy ruffled like he'd won a fight somehow.

"Ohhh, waiting for 'the one'?" he suggested sarcastically. He would be jaded, with his home life; Pete had heard about Jimmy's mom and the endless train of stepdads, he wasn't that far out of the loop.

"I dunno, I guess," he mumbled, staring down at his hands like they might somehow get him out of the situation.

"I could make it special," said Jimmy offhandedly, and Pete glanced up at him with a dry look.

"Very funny, Jimmy," he said coldly.

"Hey, I'm serious," he protested. "Why not?"

"You don't like me," Pete pointed out.

"I don't like a lot of people," he retorted. "I'll still screw around with'em."

"Wow, really romantic," he sniped.

"Ohh, sorry, princess," Jimmy taunted. "No wonder you're so uptight, if you're gonna be like this about getting off."

"Not everyone's obsessed with... getting off," he mimicked poorly.

"What, you more interested in homework or something?" suggested Jimmy.

"I don't wanna talk about it any more," Pete said bluntly, and Jimmy rolled his eyes.

"Okay, man, fine, whatever," he shrugged, kicking back further and staring up at the ceiling. "This is fucking boring," he said a minute or two later.

"Sorry," Pete said glumly.

"Whatever, not like you made the day this dull," Jimmy muttered, getting up and stretching out, punching the air a few times like he'd welcome a fight to break the monotony up. "I'm gonna head into town," he announced, and then looked at Pete like he was waiting for a reaction.

"... And?" Pete said.

"Well, are you comin?" Jimmy spat.

"What?" he blurted. "You want me to go with you?"

"Well you said handjobs are out of the question and I wasn't expecting you to just stand by the window and blow kisses," Jimmy remarked sarcastically.

"You never ask me to go anywhere," Pete said.

"Sure I do," he replied.

"No, you don't," he insisted. "You get an idea then run off and leave me."

"Well you can sit here and bitch or we can actually go," Jimmy snapped, and Pete just looked flushed and awkward. "I'm not asking you on a damn date or anything," he added, and the embarrassment just polarised.

"I didn't! I wasn't thinking-"

"So get your shit together and come or don't," Jimmy put to him bluntly, wriggling his bare toes against the rug. "I'm going in ten minutes, you can be there if you want," he stated, and then stomped off to his room in his alpha-male way. Pete sat and stared at the space Jimmy had been in for a moment, then bounced up and rushed into his room, throwing on some of his nicer clothes to go out in and wondering exactly what the hell he was getting himself into.


	2. 2

Wreck: 2

* * *

Petey changed into one of his least-dorky t-shirts, or so he hoped, and found Jimmy sitting on the dorm steps; the only thing he;d changed before going out was putting a set of trainers on and tugging a cap onto his head, and was throwing rocks at the far wall with a bored expression.

"Hey, man, let's go," he said energetically. "You wanna bike or what?"

"I don't have a bike," Pete said gloomily.

"Yeah you do," Jimmy retorted. "I've seen you on it."

"Well not any more," he explained despondently. "Greasers ran off with it weeks ago." Jimmy let out a huff.

"Fine, well you can ride bitch on mine," he offered. "I could use the workout anyway." As Jimmy pulled a bike out and then peddled into Bullworth town with Pete perching on the backwheel bars, his hands gripping Jimmy's shoulders, he couldn't help wondering why now of all times, for Jimmy to start being nice to him? Well, nicer-er; like asking if he wanted to go somewhere rather than acknowledging his existence for all of ten seconds before ignoring him again.

"Hey baby! What's happenin?" Jimmy cat-called at a bunch of girls as they streaked past, and the girls shrieked with excitement. Pete felt a little uncomfortable, but at least Jimmy kept going. He powered all the way into town, right up the hill, and then finally skidded to a stop, almost throwing Pete off the bike. "Hey, hey, easy!" he laughed as Pete nearly went flying and grabbed hold of Jimmy harder to keep balance.

"Where are we going?" he asked evasively, getting off the bike and watching Jimmy lock it up to a lampost.

"Just over here, Petey," he said boldly, leading them around a corner and straight up to the adult store.

"Jimmy!" he yelped. "We can't go in there!"

"Sure we can, the owner owes me a favor," he explained, and then ducked behind Pete and pushed him through the patterned curtain. "We're gonna do some experiments, Petey. You always said you liked science, right?"

By 'experiments' he meant forcing Pete to look at all kinds of pornography and answer questions about whether it turned him on or not. After ten minutes of unsuccessful questioning, he seemed to get bored of making Pete uncomfortable and went to chat to the owner.

"James!" the old man cawed, shaking him by the hand. "How you doing, son?"

"Fine, sir, fine," he replied confidently. "Just bringing a friend of mine into this _fine_ establishment of yours."

"Ohhh, I see," the old man murmured, looking Pete up and down in a way he didn't like at all.

"I'm just his friend," Pete found himself saying defensively, and both Jimmy and the store-owner laughed, which Pete didn't find reassuring at all.

"So, what've you got for me, Randy?" Jimmy questioned, turning back to the store-owner and clapping his hands together.

"Ohh, I think you'll like these, Jimmy my boy," the owner boasted, reaching underneath the counter and pulling out a small rectangular box. "Glow in the dark condoms!"

"What?" Jimmy burst, laughing and slamming the top of the counter. "No way!" He snatched up the box and opened one end, pulling out a wrapper and flapping it about curiously. "Bullshit," he professed.

"Would I lie to you?" the owner retorted.

"Why would I want it to glow in the dark?" Jimmy pointed out.

"Novelty value! It'll be a talking point. Helps girls find it in dark places," he offered helpfully, and then looked over at Pete. "Or boys, of course."

"I'm not gay!" Pete protested, trying to sound angry, but it was as if neither of them heard him.

"How much?" Jimmy questioned.

"Eight dollars," the owner professed, and Jimmy grumbled for a while.

"Okay, but if these don't really glow then I want my money back," he stated, thumbing out a handful of bills.

"Hand on my heart," the store owner professed, dropping the box into a brown paper bag. "Can I get you anything else?"

"Yeah, throw in some more of that flavoured lube," Jimmy professed suddenly. "The candyfloss one. Chicks dig that. I caught one of'em eatin' it straight outta the tube."

"Ten dollars fifty," the owner professed, and Jimmy threw over a few more notes.

"Keep the change. Let's hit the road, Petey," he announced, clapping a hand down on Pete's back. "If you go any redder I reckon you're bout to pass out." While he didn't appreciate the condescension, he did appreciate being out of the porn shop. "Where next?" Jimmy professed. "Comic book store?"

"You _like_ that place?" Pete inquired disbelievingly.

"The basement's pretty cool," he said. "If you kick the nerds out, at least," he added with a snort. "C'mon, I'll show you." He grabbed him by the wrist to pull him along, and before it wouldn't have meant a thing to Pete, but having seen and learned what he had only that day, he felt unsure, felt himself second-guessing everything Jimmy did. He seemed so straightforward and dumb on the surface, but no one could ever quite predict his actions.

They hung out in the basement all afternoon, playing games and changing the numbers on the nerds' grottos and gremlins sheets; by the time it was getting late Pete had actually relaxed and started having fun again - Gary wasn't even around to bring him down with merciless teasing. It was actually nice. He felt like he had a real friend for once.

"I'm closing up, Jimmy," the comic-book-store owner called down the stairs when it was finally kicking-out time, and Jimmy bounced up from the beat-up mattress.

"Allright!" he yelled back up the stairs, and headed for the door marked 'employees only'. "C'mon, Pete," he said, pushing it open to a warm rush of summer air. "We gotta be gettin' back." They rode on the bike again, Pete perched on the end with his hands on Jimmy's shoulders, feeling just how heavy and thick they were from way too much brawling.

By the time they arrived back at the dorm, though, someone was there to ruin it.

"Girls, girls," came a disgusted sneer. "Out so late? I hope you used protection!"

"Get lost, Gary," Pete murmured, watching as the boy stretched his arms along the back of the sofa, posed like he'd been there all evening just waiting to catch them. He wouldn't put it past Gary.

"My, you're cranky," he taunted. "Didn't Jimmy manage to satisfy you? Did he not hit your G-spot?"

"Just ignore him," Jimmy said quietly to him. "Go to bed."

"Ooh, gonna meet him there?" Gary suggested devilishly, striking a camp pose, and Jimmy took a step forward.

"No, I'm gonna break your fuckin' face, Gary," he threatened, and as the two faced off again, Pete took the chance to skulk away in the direction his room. On the way he bumped into Trent, who looked like he'd actually attempted to shave and was heading very much in the direction of Jimmy's room.

"Oh, hey, dude," he said cheerfully, and Pete tried not to look awkward; which was hard, as he spend most of his life looking awkward. "You were just out with Jimmy, right?" he asked, and for a horrifying moment Pete felt like the other woman - the other boy, at least.

"Uh... yeah..." he mumbled with his eyes riveted to the floor. Trent looked at him for a long, scary moment, then grinned and nodded his head.

"Nice, Jimmy's a cool guy," he professed, and then clapped a hand on Pete's shoulder like they were somehow closer. "See ya round, dude." He strolled past Pete and straight into Jimmy.

"Hey there," Jimmy slurred, bumping fists with Trent. "Lookin' good." He reached out and twisted the handle on his door, swinging it open. "C'mon in," he proposed luridly, like it was nothing - like no one should care - and Trent did exactly that. Meanwhile, Gary stormed past Pete clutching his mouth, blood on his fingers.

"Fucking faggot," he hissed as he went past him, his teeth shockingly red with blood from his split lip. Pete said nothing, just stood there and watched everyone go, leaving him alone in the hallway once more wondering what in hell's name was going on in his life.

* * *

After that Pete felt like he couldn't stop watching Jimmy; whenever he interacted, whoever he was talking to - he watched him and tried to work out if he was just being friendly, or if he wanted to sleep with them. What was the defining factor? Was simply it that they would hook up with him? That didn't seem to be it, or Jimmy would be making his rounds on people like Eunice; there was some element of selection, but Pete couldn't seem to work out what it was.

To make things worse, Gary seemed more dead set against him - and Jimmy - than ever, and if he wasn't hissing gay slurs, he was glaring daggers. Though, he didn't get too uppity if Jimmy was around, not after the bust lip; Gary liked to keep his plotting in the background, lest he injure his favourite person - himself - in the firing lines.

Then later that week Jimmy 'found' one of Galloway's bottles and didn't hand it in to Ms. Phillips, sneaking it into the dorm instead and passing it round the guys like bottled rite of passage. It was underage drinking, of course, but there was a lot of underage _everything_ in Bullworth. Pete sat in with them, though he only had a few sips of the bottle and almost threw up; since Jimmy had started talking to him more, he'd get included in things, even if Gary still gave him a hard time.

Gary was with them now for once, only pretending to drink, playing along like a wolf in sheep's clothing; everyone else bought it, but Pete saw that his throat didn't move. He just put it to his lips and brought it down again. He did an impressive job at playing along with being tipsy though. He was up to something, or he wouldn't be here.

Jimmy had put away a fair amount of the bottle, but wasn't really showing it that much - he'd drunk before, obviously. Some of the other guys were starting to lose it, though. Gord had 'slummed it' with the rest of them, boasting that he usually drank champagne, but got completely trashed on whatever poison Galloway drank. The prep was alternating between looking like he was going to throw up and hitting on Jimmy, who remained mostly oblivious to it.

"Piss of, Gord, you're wasted," he said at last, when Gord went as far to run his hand along Jimmy's leg. The guys chuckled and talked smack about the rich kid not being able to hold his drink.

"Shut it you commoners!" Gord snarled. "You're all just jealous because Jimmy... because-" his eyes crossed and he started looking white as a sheet.

"He's gonna puke!" someone yelled, and Jimmy bolted up off the floor and away from him in a heartbeat. Gord retched, slammed a hand over his mouth, and then without another second's delay Jimmy grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and dragged him outside, sticking his head into the hedges before he spewed his guts out.

"That was close," someone said, passing the bottle back. Pete braved another sip, and pulled a face.

"Haha! Petey, man," someone jeered. "You look bad as Gord!"

"I'm not gonna puke," he said stiffly, and shifted the bottle on; at least he was trying to drink, unlike Gary. Without Jimmy Gary only making death-eyes at him more, and he started to feel uncomfortable. He to his feet and felt dizzy - a lot more dizzy than he expected to be. "I'm... gonna get Jimmy," he muttered, putting a hand to his head.

"Hah! Feeling it now?" one of the bullies laughed.

"Go running to Jimmy, drunk lil' Petey," Gary bit menacingly. "Maybe he'll take you now Gordy's out of the-"

"You okay, man?" Trent interrupted as if Gary hadn't been speaking at all. "You look kinda bad."

"I'm all right, just didn't realise I was feeling it..." Pete trailed off. Trent was actually all right, one of the most easy-going guys in school if you got to know him, and he never seemed bothered about Jimmy playing the field as far as he could, because it seemed like he did exactly the same thing. If anything, he liked Pete more because he thought they both went out with Jimmy, however that worked in his strange mind.

"Get some air," he advised. "It's good for... like, breathing." Pete nodded shakily, and then made his way outside. As he pushed through the doors and felt the cool evening breeze clear his head a little, he heard retching sounds and looked over - Jimmy was still there holding Gord up, only the scowl from earlier, when he'd carried him out, was gone, and he just rubbed a hand across the boy's back. He noticed Pete almost at once.

"Hey, you okay?" he inquired with what sounded like real concern.

"Yeah... mostly," Pete answered, rubbing his face and then slumping down on the steps. Gord let out another gut-wrenching heave.

"S'okay, don't fight it," Jimmy murmured to him quietly, and then looked at Pete and rolled his eyes with a smirk. "These posh bitches can't hold their juice," he joked, and Gord made a weak moaning sound. "Shhh, shhh," Jimmy hushed kind of affectionately, patting his back again. "You sure you're all right, Petey?" he asked again. "I only got two hands if you're gonna hurl."

"Uh, I'll be fine," he told him. "Didn't realise I had enough to make me like... this."

"It'll do that," he chortled, and Gord started to paw at his lower half. "You done, baby?" he inquired softly, giving the guy a shake; Petey found it strange that he called guys by the same cute names he did girls, but then Jimmy did a lot of things that were strange. Gord let out an unintelligible moan. "He's done. Probably," Jimmy announced, and pulled him upright, slinging an arm over his shoulder. "Hey, help me here," he called out, and Pete got up to take the other arm, which was hard because Gord kept flailing it about, trying to put it around Jimmy.

"He's so heavy!" Pete groaned, and Gord twisted his face up to Jimmy's, pulling closer as if to kiss him.

"Oh _hell_ no!" Jimmy barked, using his other hand to shove his face away. "You gotta be fucking kidding me, man," he snorted as they dragged Gord up the steps and down to his room. Jimmy knocked the door open and they managed to slump the near-unconscious prep onto the bed.

"Make sure he's on his side," Pete pointed out, and Jimmy looked up at him curiously.

"What?" he said.

"Put him on his side," Pete repeated. "I heard it in first aid. That way if he throws up again in his sleep, he won't choke on it."

"Ohh, good idea," Jimmy commended, rolling Gord over so that his face smooshed uncomfortably against the mattress. He didn't seem to mind, though.

"Shouldn't we, like, undress him or something?" Pete added, and Jimmy let out a snort.

"You're welcome to, Petey, but I thought you said it wasn't your thing," he announced, and Pete gave him a cross look. "C'mon, man, let's get back to the rest of them," he suggested, clapping him on the shoulder and heading back to the common room.

"Refreshing tryst, boys?" Gary piped up, but Jimmy just rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Gary," Pete said suddenly, feeling his voice rise without intention. "You're not even really drinking." Gary's eyes widened with the shock of being called out, and Pete wondered exactly how good an idea getting tipsy had been.

"Ohhh really?" Jimmy slurred with an accusatory tone. "Gimmie that bottle," he ordered, sticking out a hand and grabbing the half-empty bottle. He took a swig from it himself then shoved it a Gary. "And you gotta swallow it this time," he instructed.

"How appropriate for you to say that to me," Gary sneered, but Jimmy hardballed him until he bowed to peer pressure and drank; it made Pete feel good to see that even Gary couldn't always hold up. Even Gary had to play along sometimes, if he was going to make his little schemes work.

A few more drinks later they were all feeling merrier, and started concocting dares; they were the usual sort of things, and then Trent of all people broke the pattern of safety.

"Jimmy," he announced drunkenly, fixing on him intently, a cheeky glimmer in his eye. "You... gotta... kiss..." he perused the circle pensively, "Gary." he declared with an idiotic grin, and Gary looked at Trent like he could choke him just with sight.

"What?" he hissed.

"It's cool, man, Jimmy's a good kisser," the bully muttered inanely, and Pete wondered why he'd said that - why had Trent picked Gary, why make _him_ do it, the homophobe, the people-hater. He could've picked Pete, and he'd have done it - he might not have wanted to, but he'd still have preferred it over this situation now. For a while no one said anything, not even Jimmy.

"What are you playing at?" Gary snapped furiously; the drink had gotten into him a bit now, his control was looser. "You fucking fa-"

"All right, Gary, cool it," Jimmy interrupted. "Trent's just bein' stupid, no one's gonna kiss anyone here. We aint' having one of those parties."

"Shame," Trent muttered, clearly liking the sound of it.

"Shut it, man," Jimmy barked, but Gary was staring at him now.

"No, no, James," he announced with his best, most refined accent. "Trent set the dare. It's only right I fulfil it."

"Uhhh, what?" Jimmy said dumbly.

"Excellent form, as usual," Gary shot sarcastically, and got up from his seat on the floor, rolling forward onto his knees. "Trent dared me to kiss you, so I'll prove to him - to all of you - that you can't make me back down like a coward. I _never_ back down," he growled, and then went forward like he was raring for a fight, not a kiss.

"Okay, okay," Jimmy acceded, half getting up himself. "Fine, Gary. Whatever you want." Gary seemed angry and intimidated at the same time, and no one dared to talk as he squared up to Jimmy and put a hand on his shoulder.

"No fagging about, okay?" he demanded viscerally. "Just the dare." Jimmy pulled a bored face, grabbed Gary by the chin and pulled his mouth onto his. Holding it there in what was very definitely a kiss - closed mouth, but still a kiss - for a few seconds. He let go and Gary pushed himself away, and far from the furious, incinerating anger Pete had been expecting to see, Gary just looked shocked.

Like out of all the things he'd been expecting to happen, that was the only one he had not seen coming.


	3. 3

Wreck: 3

* * *

Jimmy and Gary had just kissed.

_Gary and Jimmy had just kissed_ and if Petey hadn't already had several, he would've had a drink. Gary sat back down without a word, and even Jimmy looked surly as he rocked back into the circle. The only person who looked remarkably pleased was Trent, and even that didn't last long.

"Right, Trent," Jimmy piped up. "Now you have to..." he started, drawing in a deep breath. "paint your ass blue... run over to the front of the school, and make a butt-print on the front door while the paint is still wet." He grinned; revenge was a dish best served with blue paint, apparently. Pete didn't miss Gary's slight smirk - the little betrayal of amusement through the storm of anger and - surprisingly - confusion.

"What! That's uncool, dude!" Trent burst.

"Dare's a dare," Jimmy professed, getting to his feet. "I'll go get the paint." He came back a minute later with a fresh tin, and then insisted that Trent couldn't go to the school and then make the print - that he had to have his ass painted here and then run across campus. "Remember, if we don't see it tomorrow morning we'll know you failed," he instructed as Trent bent over and pulled down his pants - it was probably the first time he'd ever done it so reluctantly. For once, Gary didn't have any homophobic slurs to make.

As Trent bolted into the night, paint running down his legs, there was another sort of stunned silence, as if to question whether that really was the bright blue painty ass of Trent Northwick bouncing across the campus. Then Jimmy sniggered, and in seconds they were all laughing; it caught like fire on an aerosol, and soon they were in hysterics, rolling against walls and onto the floor, clutching their aching stomachs. Even Gary laughed. A few minutes later, Trent came dashing back with several furious prefects chasing him for violating curfew. He bolted across the threshold and slammed then locked the door, breathing heavily against as he slowly slumped onto the floor.

"Fuck you, Jimmy," he panted, and the boy just laughed.

"Not with all that paint on your ass!" Jimmy hooted, clutching his stomach again and beating a fist on the wall. However, after that nothing else seemed quite so funny or extravagant; Trent went off first to clean himself up, and then more of the guys filtered away until they all called it quits and went to bed.

"Nite, Petey," Jimmy said by his door, reaching out to squeeze him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, night, Jimmy," he replied, and could have sword Jimmy was giving him a _look_, a look like the ones he gave Trent or Gord. Did Jimmy actually want to sleep with him, he thought worriedly. If he did, then why? Why him? Did he think he was gay? The fact that those were his first thoughts, instead of 'oh no' worried Pete too. Were they right about him?

He didn't think he liked Jimmy like that, but he did feel sort of attracted to him. He wanted to be one of the people Jimmy actually cared about, someone he'd stick up for - if Jimmy gave a shit about him, he felt like he actually mattered. People paid attention to him when Jimmy was his friend, some were nicer just because they thought he already was doing stuff with Jimmy.

He thought about it too much and slept too little, waking up feeling groggier than he ought to have, which might have been the drink - though at least the bright blue assprint on the school door cheered him up. After classes he headed to the library instead of back to the dorm, wanting to get some time away - where no one would bother him - and sat at one of the tables staring at a book and pretending to read.

"Hey, weirdo, you've been here all afternoon," one of the nerds called out eventually, they'd been skulking around him for ages, trying to send him off with the power of glares.

"So?" he replied. "It's a free library."

"It's _our_ library, loser," Algie sneered, and Pete shut his book with a snap.

"It's the school's library," he stated. "You can't make me go."

"We have a very important meeting scheduled," Earnest stated crossly. "You must vacate this area at once."

"I said no!" he snapped. "You all can go somewhere else to have your stupid meeting," he muttered, and then noticed the nerds start to close in on him like a pack. "Hey..." he rushed. "Hey," he said again, getting up as they brandished metre-rules like swords. "This is school property, you can't damage it on me... I... mean me on it, I-" He gave up as Melvin made the first swipe at him, and jumped over his desk, bouncing along tabletops, much to the librarian's fury, before bursting out of the door. They'd almost caught up with him by then, and he nearly fell down the steps as one of them caught him by the jumper.

"Be gone, vagrant!" Melvin bellowed, and cracked him across the legs with his makeshift weapon. He let out an instinctive yelp.

"Okay, I'm going, I'm going!" Pete cried; he'd been stupid to even try to stand up to them. After a little taste of inclusion, he'd started to forget his place. Just as Fatty started to close in on him, a large, ripe apple flew at the nerd's head and burst, showering them all with fragments.

"AHHHH!" Fatty screamed, going down quickly. Another fruit slammed into Earnest from behind, and Pete looked over to see Jimmy tossing yet another up and down in his hand.

"What the fuck do you guys think you're doing?" he snarled, stalking up like a predator. "You think it's funny to gang up on one guy, huh?"

"Ah, Jimmy," Earnest rushed, still picking apple from his hair. "You see we... well the thing is."

"It's okay, Jimmy, I sorta asked for it," Pete assuaged.

"Like hell you did!" he snapped back, storming right up to Algie and grabbing him by the shoulders, yanking him close. "Do you think it's fun to gang up on people, pee-pants?" he glowered, and then shoved Algie off before he could leak on him.

"Jimmy, see, we and Peter were just rehearsing for-" Cornelius started, and Jimmy turned around and shoved him, sending the skinny boy flying.

"I didn't tell you to talk!" he snarled as the Thespian tumbled to the floor. "I'd have thought you guys would know better, but turns out you're just the same kinda scum," he glowered. "Ganging up on one guy just 'cause he don't act like you, trying to pummel him because you can. Well, do you know what happens to bullies round here?" he snarled, while the nerds quivered. "They get _bullied_," he murmured sinisterly, and snatched Melvin's rule out of his hand.

"Jimmy, please!" he squealed.

"Bend over, Melvin," he instructed, swishing the rule through the air and testing the airspeed and tensile strength.

"Do you want money? We can pay you-"

"I want you to_ bend over_," he ordered, and glared until the boy turned his back and leaned foward. "Further," Jimmy urged. "Further," he insisted. "Reach for those toes," he spat, and then with a sudden whoosh he brought the rule whistling through the air and cracking hard against the boy's ass. The wooden ruler broke in two, and Melvin let out a wail that drew in prefects.

"Uhh, I think we should make a run for it," Petey rushed, and Jimmy looked over at him and nodded. They split at the library gates and the prefect ran after Jimmy, while Pete made a clean getaway by hopping over the dorm wall. He lay panting against it wondered what in the hell had happened. Only last night he'd been thinking about what it would be like to have Jimmy stick up for hi, only, it wasn't quite as thrilling in reality. There wasn't so much of a sense of friendship as one of terror and the notion that he'd fallen in with a violent, dangerous guy.

At least he was his dangerous guy, for now. Jimmy was the very last person he'd want to be the enemy of - even including Gary. As he crouched against the wall, Jimmy nearly landed on his head as he vaulted over, and then started to laugh as he skidded to the ground next to Pete.

"Hahaha," he chuckled, "you okay, man?"

"Sure, I'm fine," he said.

"I saw'em whack you one with that stick," he explained with what was almost concern. "You sure?"

"Yeah, they can't hit for shit," he insisted bravely, and Jimmy thumped him on the back with an air of respect.

"Fuckin' nerds, eh?" he said. "Think they're so much better."

"They're worse than the jocks sometimes," Pete agreed.

"Oh, you got that right," Jimmy concurred. "Jocks don't fucking think. The nerds are smart, they plot and scheme."

"A bit like Gary," he pointed out, and Jimmy looked pensive.

"Yeah," he murmured, "like Gary." He stood up a moment later and peered over the wall. "We're all right," he said, stretching out a hand for Pete.

"Thanks a lot, Jimmy," he said bashfully.

"Calm down, I only helped you up," he replied bemusedly.

"No, for... well, rescuing me," Pete explained. Those nerds would have kicked his ass if it weren't for Jimmy, and they both knew it.

"Hey, it's cool," he said fondly, laying the hand back on his shoulder and giving it a pat. "You're the only kid in this school hasn't tried to fuck me over at least once."

"So far," he replied jokily, but it went unappreciated.

"What?" Jimmy growled.

"I'm joking!" he rushed. "I wouldn't try to mess with you, Jimmy. You scare me too much." Jimmy watched him for a moment, then smiled.

"Good," he proclaimed, clapping his shoulder again. "That's what I like to hear." He let go of Pete's shoulder and they strolled back to the dorms. They hadn't been back much longer than a half hour when Jimmy got called out by someone for something or the other, and Pete had barely been alone ten minutes than Gary came sailing out of his room practically on air.

"Petey," he began dramatically, "this is the only time I'm going to say this, so you better treasure the moment, but you are a gay genius!" he proclaimed, throwing his hands around wildly, like he'd had too much beam cola and too few meds.

"I'm not gay," Pete shot automatically.

"Ohh, but you are," Gary rushed sinisterly, settling his hands over Pete's shoulders. "It's what gave me my brainwave, Petey. The master plan."

"Master plan?" he echoed suspiciously; Gary really did sound like he'd gone off his meds.

"Oh yes, oh yes," he cackled, and then a thought appeared to occur to him. "Maybe best to stay in the closet a little longer though," he consoled with a pat. "I don't want you stealing him away from me."

"_Him?_ What?" he shot, and Gary just laughed, clapping his hands together like a kid with a pile of Christmas presents. He didn't leave Pete's side for a good day after that, sticking to him and being a maniacal pest. It lasted until the night Jimmy wandered in with a sour expression, having been out on errands.

"Jimmy, dear friend!" Gary cheered standing up, still wired like he'd been sucking on batteries or something. Jimmy looked at him with a none-too-favourable expression.

"What the hell do you want?" he muttered wearily.

"I wanted to offer you consolation, friend," Gary insisted. "Can I offer you an ice-pack? Some medication? As I'm not taking it _someone_ ought to. A little sex?" The last point did not go amiss, and Pete and Jimmy turned in unison to stare at Gary like he'd just announced he'd found the last unicorn hiding in Crabblesnitch's office.

"Very fuckin' funny," Jimmy groaned. "I'm going to bed."

"No, no, I'm serious!" Gary rushed, dashing forwards and grabbing Jimmy by the shoulders.

"Geddoff me!" he barked, and Gary let go, knowing he was almost literally sticking his fingers in the lion's cage.

"Surely you could use some relaxation," the manipulator offered cordially.

"What the fuck is this about?" Jimmy asked.

"Nothing, I promise you," Gary declared. "The truth is the other night's... my perspective was altered, shall we say," he explained. "All my anger, all those feelings, they were _denial_, Jimmy. I've been running from myself, and you made me see that," he concluded with a startling performance of honesty. Jimmy stared him out for a cold, hard moment.

"Bullshit," he said, and turned towards his room again, but Gary ducked in front of him once more.

"I'm serious," he insisted. "Maybe it was nothing to you, Jimmy, but for me it was..." he trailed off dramatically. Petey wanted to laugh, he really did, but Gary was slightly too serious for it to be funny; it was so twisted that it wasn't funny.

"Yeah right," Jimmy dismissed. "So you're suddenly gay? Prove it," he said, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. If Gary wanted to take him for a ride, he'd at least see how far he was going to take it.

"Prove it?" Gary echoed. "What do you want me to do? Write a broadway musical?" Jimmy raised one side of his mouth into an unimpressed snarl.

"How d'you think you prove it?" he growled, and the implication hit Pete and Gary at about the same time; Gary pursed his lips together for a moment.

"Fine," he muttered stiffly, and seemed like he was carrying out a conversation with himself internally, doing nothing at all but stare into space.

"I thought so," Jimmy snapped, and turned again. Before he could get far, though, Gary darted out both hands and grabbed him by the shirt, and in a split-second crushed his mouth against Jimmy's.

It was worse than seeing Jimmy with Trent, or any girls, or even a dick like Gord; there was something, deeply, intrinsically _wrong_ about it, but all Petey could do was watch in horror. Jimmy pushed Gary off after a moment, and relief ballooned in Pete's chest, but then Jimmy reached up and took hold of his collar, tightening his fist into a sinewy lump, and then yanked Gary back against him. For a second Gary wore that same shocked look on his face, but then he was moving, hands skimming down Jimmy's arms and digging in with nails; mouths open so Pete could see the shape of Jimmy's tongue against his cheek for a second. He was the only one out in the dorm at that point - and he didn't seem to count - so they were as good as alone. Pulling back again with a smacking noise, Jimmy gave Gary a careful, judgmental stare.

"All right," he announced as if he were passing a verdict, and paced back a bit, reaching for his door handle and pushing it open. "Step inside."

Pete wondered why he felt so nauseous and afraid, and spent the rest of the evening trying to erase what he'd seen, or at least work out what the hell Gary's 'master plan' was and why it had to involve Jimmy.

* * *

The plot thickens!

The next chapter on from this is mostly smut and pretty graphic, so I won't put it up here but it is on the Bully BL livejournal community if anyone wants to go see it. (There's also a few more chapters that haven't gone up here yet.) You can get the next chapter at (http:/bully-bl (dot) livejournal (dot) com/179002 (dot) html) or just google to find the LJ community.


	4. 4

Wreck: 4

* * *

Petey had spent a long and very uncomfortable night trying _not _to think about all of the things that Jimmy and Gary might have been doing. He didn't know what was more of a shock, that Gary had offered to have sex with Jimmy, or that Jimmy had said yes. Each one was just as insane as the other.

Gary hated Jimmy and made it seem very much like he hated gays too, and Jimmy didn't exactly like Gary either. However, it couldn't be put past Gary to use sex as a tool for furthering his schemes, or for Jimmy to turn down free sex; he had made out with Eunice after all. It was so wrong, but at the same time, Pete almost saw the chemistry - maybe they didn't even see it themselves. Gary loved to torment and manipulate everyone, but he took a savage joy in doing it to Jimmy; it was practically an obsession. He didn't just want to control Jimmy, he wanted to _own _him. In some ways - sick, twisted ways - that kind of possession probably included what they were doing now.

But there was a cost to that kind of impulse. Petey saw it the night Trent dared them to kiss, and the night just past; when Jimmy actually engaged Gary, there was that shock on his face - shock at the chemistry, at the aggression and hatred forced through another outlet. In its fucked-up way, it actually worked, and that was why Jimmy had let Gary into his room. That was what Pete reckoned, at least. It was the same reason he knew why Jimmy wouldn't invite _him_ into his room - not that he wanted to be there - because there was no spark.

And with Gary and Jimmy, it wasn't a spark. It was an entire fucking bolt of lightning.

The next time he saw Jimmy was that morning before class. He strolled out of his room, _alone_, and looking exactly the same as he always did, dressed in his usual ensemble that barely passed for a school uniform.

"Mornin'," he remarked to Pete, who got up from the sofa as if he'd just planned to be walking into school at that time - as if he definitely _hadn't_ been waiting for Jimmy.

"Morning. You... all right?" he asked awkwardly.

"What? Sure," Jimmy muttered, shouldering the door open and acknowledging Petey at his side as they walked in the direction of the main building. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh I... well I just thought... with, uh... last night..."

"Ohhh, now I get it," he deduced with a sarky tone. "You're talkin' about Gary_._"

"I just, uh..."

"Worried he was gonna kill me in my sleep or something?" Jimmy suggested with a snort.

"Well, sorta," Pete agreed with a nervous chuckle, and added with a little more humour, "like a black widow." Jimmy looked at him quizzically.

"The fuck's that?"

"It's a spider," he explained. "They, um, mate with their partner and then... kill and eat them." Jimmy looked at him for a moment as if to say '_what the fuck_, _Petey_' and then he started to grin.

"Huh. That does sound kinda Gary-ish," he chuckled. "Well, I'm still here," he pointed out. "Gary got exactly what was comin' to him," he added, and Pete found the ground distractingly interesting.

"Okay, g-great," he murmured. "Well, not _great _but, uh..."

"Petey, you got to think of whether you want the answer to questions before you ask 'em," he said with a jokey fondness, slinging an arm around his neck. "Wanna get some breakfast?" he suggested amiably, and Pete nodded. They went to the canteen and decided that fruit was the safest thing to eat there, and even that was looking a big peaky; someone's banana at another table actually tried to make a run for it at one point.

It was nice, though; that same casual companionship. Jimmy wasn't any different, still made the same jokes and said the same inappropriate things - used bad pickup lines on anyone who would listen. Petey wondered if maybe he'd blown it out of proportion, if maybe it _was't _that big a deal. Perhaps, he thought to himself hopefully, the whole 'Gary and Jimmy' thing was just a freak occurrence.

Perhaps it only happened for some strange, fucked up reason, like the planets were aligned, and would never happen again. Then maybe Jimmy would go back to looking at _him _like he was thinking something more - not that Petey actually wanted to follow through with it, but he didn't mind the idea that Jimmy liked him more than Gary.

Unfortunately, things _never_ went how he wanted them to. After classes only a couple of days later a bunch of them were sitting out by the beat-up school bus, throwing rocks across the parking lot and seeing if they could bust the windows on Hattrick's car - Jimmy, the bullies and Pete hanging in, when Gary had to come up and cause a scene.

"Am I too late for the orgy?" he sneered as he walked in from lane leading out onto the main road.

"Gee, Gary, you just missed it," Jimmy retorted sarcastically. "_Settle,_ Trent, don't get your hopes up," he said aside, as Trent had become indisputably more lively at the very mention of the word 'orgy'. Gary made a motion of patting himself down.

"Well shucks, seems like I forgot my invitation to the fag party anyway."

"I said if you called anyone a fag again I was gonna put your head through a fuckin' window," Jimmy snapped, and Gary just crossed his arms, squaring off.

"Is that right?" he challenged. "I don't see what your problem is, I'm simply naming things for what they are. Or is that concept beyond your primitive brain?" he baited. "A homosexual is a _fag_, so that makes all you fags, _fags_."

"All right," Jimmy bellowed, jumping up to his feet. "Now you've done it!"

"You're one to talk, Gary!" Pete shouted suddenly, and everyone stopped brawling for a fight to look at him.

"What was that, Petey?" he asked with a quiet, white-hot rage. Not the kind that gave off a lot of show and flames, but the sort that would burn him right through to the bone in seconds.

"Well... you're hardly one to go around calling people gay," he said with much less energy. "Yunno, pot and kettle."

"Oh, oh oh oh," Gary cheered, clapping his hands together. "This is too precious. You're calling _me _a fag now? You, the femme-boy, are calling _me _a fag?"

"Well I haven't-!" he started boldly, and then the idea of having to say 'slept with Jimmy' was too frightening to manage.

"Oh no, lose your voice, Petey? Wherever did it go?" Gary tormented, peering left and right with comedic dramatisation, one hand visored over his eyes. Jimmy glared daggers.

"He meant to say that you'll fuck _me_, so that pretty much makes you one of us," he stated, and Gary looked at him with shock and amazement.

"Oh my," he murmured. "You really think... you think that _me_ doing favours for _you _counts as homosexuality? You really- no, friend, that is fucking _charity work!_" he snarled. "Bestiality, idociality, fucking-_moron_icality," he spewed gibberish, but it got Jimmy riled, so it had all the meaning it needed. "To be a homo- sexual assumes you're one of the _homo-sapiens_, Jimmyboy," he proclaimed like a ringmaster unveiling his best act. "So don't think for a _minute _that you can call me a-"

Jimmy snapped, which Jimmy was prone to do, and grabbed Gary by his sick, hatred-spewing throat and slammed him against the fence.

"Goood, very good," he commended like Jimmy had given him an award. "Does hurting me make you feel better?"

"Sure fucking does," Jimmy seethed.

"Really. _How _much better? Tell me," Gary actually sounded like he was flirting, if Pete wasn't mistaken, but that would be a whole _new _level of crazy for him. "Getting all worked up over the nasty homophobe?"

"You're sick," he bit in low, poisonous words.

"Said the actress to the bishop," he finished in a sing-song voice. "Gonna try to prove me wrong?"

"I don't have to prove shit to you," Jimmy growled.

"Ohhh but it would be _satisfying_, wouldn't it?" he baited. "Showing me what a hypocrite I am, hm?"

"Take a walk, guys," Jimmy announced to the rest of the group.

"Uh, Jimmy-" Pete started.

"Well I _know _you're jealous, Petey, but try to keep it in your pants," Gary cawed. "Your mother and I have some talking to do. Or am _I _mother this time?" he jeered up at Jimmy, who just picked him up off the fence and smashed him back against it, grazing his cheek.

"I said take a hike!" he hollered, and the few bullies hanging around got up.

"You got it covered, Jimmy?" one of the guys asked politely, and Jimmy fired a cross look, but didn't actually lose his temper.

"Yeah, I'm fine, man," he said. "Just get outta here so I can pummel this piece of shit."

"Jimmy-" Pete started away.

"I'm not in the mood, Petey!" he snapped, firing off his pitbull glare, and Gary looked over as if he were _proud_, like he'd planned it all out.

"C'mon, man," Trent urged Pete, grabbing him by the arm and tugging him along. "Jimmy's gonna handle it." As they walked away, backs to Jimmy and Gary, Pete heard the snarling insults being traded, further smacks as Jimmy laid up on Gary, and Gary probably smacked him back. They walked out of sight and around the corner, where the bullies wandered off on their own business, and Pete perched on a wall and fought the urge to go back, to confirm that Jimmy _was _just beating up on Gary.

When he finally got the balls to sneak around and peek, all he could make out was Jimmy's back, facing right against the side of the bus. For a moment he couldn't see Gary, and thought maybe he'd run off, but then he realised that it was because Gary was _between _Jimmy and the bus.

He wanted to know why that made him feel so sick.

* * *

The next NSFW (not at all NOT AT ALL SFW) chapter is up on LJ here. (http:) /bully-bl (dot) livejournal (dot) com/179580 (dot) html


	5. 5

Wreck 5

* * *

The day after leaving Jimmy and Gary to their own devices by the school bus - an event over which Petey had been concerning himself - nothing seemed different. Just like the first time, Jimmy was exactly the same at breakfast the next morning - as far as Pete could tell, at least. Although when Gary passed through the dorm before breakfast his grin about doubled.

"Taking it easy, Gary?" he whooped from the far end of the sofa. "Hurt, does it?"

"Only my dignity," he retorted, moving on quickly. Pete looked over at Jimmy curiously.

"Is something up with Gary?" he asked. "Did you actually beat him up?" It was the safer option, the one he could deal with hearing the answers to. The one he was hoping for.

"In a fashion," Jimmy sniggered. Petey just started blushing.

"You do know he's up to something, though, right?" he hazzarded.

"Jeesh, Petey, Gary being up to something? Who'd a thought. What are you saying that I'm stupid or something?" Jimmy said caustically.

"No!" he rushed. "I didn't- I mean, I was just wondering what he is up to."

"Gary thinks he's the one in control," Jimmy replied stonily, "like he got some neat plan all figured out, but he ain't."

"Really?" Petey said softly.

"Yeah," Jimmy bit. "So just quit whining, man, it's cool." As much as he would've liked to believe Jimmy's assurance, Petye had known Gary longer than Jimmy, and knew exactly how much he couldn't be trusted. He was always working on something, and it wasn't beyond him to make it seem like he wasn't totally in control just to get the other guy off-guard.

Pete spent the whole day waiting for Gary's next move, but he didn't do a thing beyond pulling some sour faces when he sat on the hard canteen seats at lunch. Jimmy sat in with some of the girls, flirting outrageously and making dirty jokes, but Gary was too careful to be caught watching - Petey knew, because he was watching Gary.

At one point Gary looked over and caught Pete staring right at him, but he only fired off a wicked smile, and carried on pushing his food around his tray. He had something planned; Petey knew he did. But nothing happened. Not that day, and not the next; Gary just went on with his life as if he really had just spontaneously decided to have sex with Jimmy and then the moment passed.

However, at the end of the week, Gary took a stroll through Jock territory and landed himself in a whole heap of trouble; his psychotic impulse to provoke people against all sensibility and logic got the better of him. Petey didn't want to say he'd been stalking him, but he'd been keeping a close eye and ear out. Gary had his back against the wall of the gym, still grinning like a madman as a couple of Jocks closed in on him. Petey had only one thought - the same thought everyone had when something went wrong: get Jimmy. Jimmy would fix it. He was half way across school grounds before it even occurred to him that this could be part of the act.

"Jimmy!" he burst into Jimmy's room without announcement, and was silently thankful Jimmy was the only one in it. He wouldn't put it past him to have any of a number of students in there with him playing 'shirts and skins' as Trent so tactfully put it.

"What is it now?" he said begrudgingly.

"There's a whole bunch of jocks beating up on Gary," he explained, and as he said the words realised how obligingly he'd shot across here, flown as the messenger to Gary's rescue - why? He wondered, but it wasn't a question he ever had an answer to. Gary was one of the closest things he had to a friend, so that was why.

"So?" Jimmy retorted. "He probably deserves it."

"Oh... right," Pete replied awkwardly. "Yeah... well I was just letting you know," he murmured, and found himself with nothing to do, and no idea what to say to move the topic on either; Jimmy sat at his desk with a similar sort of expression.

"Dammit!" he snapped suddenly, standing up and slamming his hand down on the desktop so hard Pete half-jumped out of his skin. "Fuckin' Gary," he seethed, and grabbed for a jacket before storming out of the door. He arrived just in time - Gary was only half-beaten to death, not fully, and with a baseball bat in hand Jimmy put three of the jocks into the asphalt and sent the rest scattering.

"I hope you think you're fucking clever," Jimmy said to Gary, dropping the bat and scrubbing at a bruise on his cheek, hoping his mouth didn't blow up. Gary looked a mess; black eyes, bust lip, blood streaming from his nose.

"Genius, thanks," he responded, and strolled over to one of the fallen jocks on shaky legs. With a vicious, violent snarl he hammered a foot into the guy's side, and then ground his boot over another's head.

"All right, cool it," Jimmy ordered. "They're down, ain't they?"

"So they are," he said obnoxiously. "How about that?" He started to walk off and then his leg buckled from the kicking - too weak to catch himself, he hit the floor with a thud.

"Oh hell," Jimmy muttered, going after him and yanking him back up by the collar. "What do I have to carry you back like a fucking princess now?" he said crossly, and Gary propped himself back onto his feet.

"Fuck you, I'll crawl back all by myself," he hissed, turning and spitting blood onto the playground. Jimmy grumbled, but jammed his shoulder under one of Gary's arms anyway, slinging it across his back and doing most of the walking for them both. Neither said anything as Jimmy dragged him back to the dorm, but enough people saw it to notice the implications; Gary Smith had gotten into a fight and Jimmy came to back him up.

Pete saw - he knew what it meant. The Jocks probably did too. Jimmy had Gary's back, regardless of the abuse he gave him while defending it. When they got back to the dorm, Pete watched in the background as Jimmy took him all the way to his door, shoving it open before he finally unloaded Gary from his side.

"Watch your fucking self next time," Jimmy said gruffly.

"When you already do it for me so well?" he replied poisonously.

"Next time I won't," Jimmy spat. "I only got you this time 'cause those jocks are pricks."

"Of course, Jimmy, keep telling yourself that," Gary leered, slumped up against his doorframe like it was a dramatic choice instead of a necessity. Gary didn't believe him - Pete didn't even believe him.

"Whatever, man," Jimmy muttered, turning away and walking off. Gary watched him all the way into his room before he left the doorway of his own. That was the way Pete saw things being left off.

It was not, however, the way they were found.

It was the weekend, so no one tended to be out of their rooms before eleven, if that. Petey was always an early riser, so liked to take advantage of exclusive use of the TV in the early house of the morning. It was during this rarely-interrupted ritual that he heard the nearest door to him. Turning over his shoulder without even thinking about it, he glanced at Jimmy's opening door. But Jimmy wasn't the one who came out. Gary was.

Petey must have looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights, because he certainly could't say or do anything as Gary saw him staring and stopped himself.

"Waiting up are you, Petey?" he said quietly. Though he'd clearly showered since the beating he still looked a mess, but even so held himself in a way that made it seem like he was untouched, like the bruises and cuts were just optical illusions.

"What are you doing?" Pete asked, and Gary pulled a face of disgust and delight.

"Now you want to know?" he cried, crossing his arms over his chest defiantly. No school uniform today, just sweatpants and a vest. Clothes he might have slept in; clothes he might have sleep in Jimmy's bed in.

"No! I didn't mean it like... I.."

"Oh Petey, so shy, so blushing," he taunted. "Curious about what the grownups do behind doors when you're not looking? Or maybe you do look... maybe that does it for you," he suggested darkly. "Little peeping Petey."

"I haven't!" he shot. "I meant what are you planning," he rephrased. "Why are you doing this?"

"Maybe I just like it, huh?" he posed cheekily. "Those big, strong arms... like fucking a shaved gorilla."

"I don't get it, Gary," he professed. Did he like Jimmy or hate him? If he hated him, why sleep with him? What was he trying to gain? If he crossed Jimmy, he wasn't going to forgive him just because they'd had sex.

"I don't expect you to," he retorted brashly. "You're not part of the plan."

"What plan? What about any of this resembles a plan?" he shot, and Gary laughed.

"What can an ant see of the anthill when he looks up?" he questioned manically. "There's a bigger picture, Petey, and you're too pathetic and small to get even a glimpse of it."

"Gary!" came a shout from behind Jimmy's door, and Pete realised they had been talking in louder and louder voices. "You can shut the fuck up, or you can get your ass back here and I'll shut it for you." Gary gave Pete a victorious look, a look that he shouldn't have been able to make at him, because he wasn't meant to act like Petey was jealous. Not jealous that he was screwing Jimmy, but that Jimmy had more time for Gary now - that he, in however fucked-up a way, liked Gary more than him.

Gary didn't have a smart remark to make because he didn't need to make one; silence was better. He could just turn around and go back into Jimmy's room, and Petey would lose. Not because he wished he was in there instead of Gary, but just because he wished Gary wasn't.

* * *

Bonus chapter at http:/bully-bl (dot) livejournal (dot) com/180161 (dot) html

Thanks for reading. I am throwin' phoenix downs at this fandom like a motherfucker, yo.


	6. 6

Wreck 6

* * *

Petey was very, very worried.

But then, he worried about a lot of things; about being bullied, whether he should go back to wearing white shirts - or if the fact that he'd gotten to like the pink ones said something about him. He worried that he liked Jimmy more than he should, or that Jimmy liked him more than Petey wanted him to. He worried about his grades, his parents, about there being spiders in the corners of rooms, and a whole load of things there were stupid enough he'd never admit to anyone. But all of those put together were still nothing compared to how much he worried about Gary.

Gary had a plan, and the fact that he'd been sleeping with Jimmy on the side was just part of it. The most worrying thing, though, was that Jimmy was taken in. Sure, Petey didn't think that Jimmy had feelings for Gary or anything, and Gary certainly didn't, but if he tried to say something Jimmy just told him to 'forget about it' and insisted he could handle Gary.

He claimed it wasn't a problem, but it was, and the fact that Jimmy ignored it only gave Gary more opportunities because now he had a free reign. Gary could do what he wanted and Jimmy just turned a blind eye. Even more than that, Gary had his unspoken protection. After the jocks, Petey didn't doubt Gary turned all of his resources to making sure it looked like Jimmy had galloped in on a white horse and slain a dragon to protect Gary, and he was sure that Gary made it look like Jimmy was his dumb, manipulable puppet. He wasn't entirely wrong, Jimmy had been used, even if he was too proud to admit it.

Petey kept bringing it up, because he was nothing if not persistent, and figured that if he was enough of a pest eventually Jimmy might listen.

"Look, Petey," Jimmy snapped one time, "I haven't seen Gary in weeks."

"What?" he inquired blankly. "Really?" He hadn't seen Gary either, but he'd been going on the assumption that Jimmy was one of the few people Gary did see, even if only after-hours.

"Yeah," Jimmy bit. "Like it's a surprise? He's a conniving little snake and he's been trying to backstab me at every opportunity."

"Well... yeah," he said. "But he's always been like that. It wasn't a... it wasn't a problem before, yunno... I didn't realise you two had-"

"There was never an 'us two'," Jimmy muttered.

"Well, then... what happened?"

"What do you mean what happened?" he bit. "Nothing happened in the first place."

"Apart from the... uh," Petey trailed off awkwardly.

"Sex?" Jimmy supplied crudely. "At least say it out loud, Petey. Yeah, okay, we banged, but it was just a... it didn't... I don't have to explain myself to you!" he snapped, realising his own lack of words.

"Okay, sorry, I didn't mean to," Pete rushed, holding up his hands, but Jimmy seemed to recognise his own lost temper.

"S'okay man," he grumbled. "Look, it was just a thing. He went on one of his crazy phases and we screwed around, then he - I dunno - changed to another kind of crazy and stopped."

"... Really?"

"Yes really, what do you think I'd make this shit up?" Jimmy barked, making Pete flinch a bit.

"Sorry, I just... it seems weird, even for Gary."

"I guess, but who am I to judge," Jimmy pointed out with a shrug. "The way you go on about him, Petey, I didn't know any better I'd say you were a bit too interested," he trailed off chock full of implication, and Petey went red through a mix of embarrassment and outrage.

"Jimmy!" he protested. "It's not like that! I just- I worry about him. You haven't known him as long as I have."

"Clearly," Jimmy remarked, unimpressed. "Seeing as you're the Gary expert and all."

"I wasn't trying to say that," Petey insisted. "I just... if even you haven't seen him, there's not much anyone can do, I guess," he murmured despondently. "I really thought he had something going on," he added.

"Doesn't he?" Jimmy queried.

"With you, I mean," Pete explained. "I thought his... thing, I mean, offering sex to you out of nowhere. I thought he was going to..." words failed him.

"What? Use it against me?" Jimmy snorted. "I'm sure he had that in mind when he started, Petey, but what he didn't know was who he was dealin' with. My mom is the master of takin' advantage of people," he pointed out. "She's a pro, I seen her do it a hundred times. Gary's nothing," he scorned. "If he wanted to learn a thing or two 'bout using his dick to get people to do what he wants, he picked the wrong guy to try it on."

"Oh, well that's... good," Pete answered with relief. "So he just... stopped?" Jimmy shrugged.

"He flipped out a while back over," he stopped, glancing at Petey questionably, then carried on, "... something 'bout a kiss," he finished with the slightest touch of discomfort. "Got his panties in a twist and stormed off. I ain't seen him since then."

"A kiss?" Pete echoed disbelievingly. "Hadn't you guys, uh..."

"Yeah, we did more than that," Jimmy supplied. "That's why it was so crazy. But then it wouldn't be Gary if it weren't crazy," he snorted. "I just figure he didn't think the idea through," he continued. "He thought it'd be easy winnings fuckin' me for perks, but he didn't account for actually liking it. Scared the shit outta him and he ran off, sticking to what he knows." Jimmy tilted back on his chair and then rocked forwards again. "Which is being a scheming little bitch."

"Oh," Petey replied mutely. "Well that... wait, you mean he... actually liked it?"

"Course' he did!" Jimmy scoffed. "I'm the bull goose player round here, Petey. Forget Crabblesnitch, I could have Miss Danvers beggin' on her knees for more if I got a chance," he gloated, but Pete knew how much practice he got and didn't necessarily doubt it.

"He was always so against it," Petey murmured. "I mean, all the anti-gay stuff."

"Oh he kept that up," Jimmy chuckled. "Even when he was gettin' it." Petey went a whole shade redder.

"Well, uh, what do you think he's up to now?" he changed the subject.

"Like I fuckin' know," Jimmy muttered. "Same old Gary shit, I guess."

"Maybe you should do something about him, I mean, like, try to stop it before he causes any real trouble." Even if Petey wasn't as worried now he knew that Gary and Jimmy weren't hooking up any more, that was still pretty worried.

"What's he gonna do?" Jimmy spat derisively. "I got my own business, Petey, I don't need to waste time with a breadbasket like him."

"He might be a breadbasket, but he's a breadbasket who can-"

"Look, I don't wanna talk about it, okay?" Jimmy shot. "I'll do what I want round here, Gary can do whatever the fuck it is he wants... and you," he started crossly, "you, Petey, should something you want, and stop worrying the shit about other people. Do something for your fucking self for once."

"Like what," he retorted despondently.

"I dunno! Get drunk, fuck a girl - or fuck whatever the hell gets you off. Buy some blow and get high, shit, crack if that's your goddam thing," he ranted. "You just gotta chill out, man."

Pete gave up, realising that he'd got as much from Jimmy on the topic as he could. There was a point at which he would just have to learn what Gary was capable of the hard way.

"Okay, fine," he sighed, and then fell into quietly uncomfortable silence.

"So... you decided if you're gay or what?" Jimmy queried a minute or two later, and Petey nearly jumped out of his seat.

"What?" he yelped. "Where's that come from?"

"Jeesh, I was only askin'," Jimmy scorned. "You seem pretty worked up 'bout Gary. I know he talks a lotta shit, but he made it seem like you were jealous, and I haveta say I'm kinda getting the gist here."

"Jimmy! No!" he burst.

"So like, jealous of me or him?" Jimmy posed self-servingly, and Petey actually found himself wishing he were being stuffed into a trash can or locker for once.

"I don't... it's not like that," he insisted.

"What is it like, then?" Jimmy pinned him with.

"I dunno, I just... Gary's... I wasn't jealous," he said with a horrible flustered tone. "I just... didn't like it."

"Like what?"

"Well, him and you... and stuff," he mumbled through his mortification. "S'not like I was jealous, but the whole..."

"You didn't like the fact that we were fucking?" Jimmy phrased with his unique lack of delicacy. Petey gave an awkward nod. "That's bein' jealous," he stated.

"No!" Petey practically yelped. "If I was jealous it'd be because I wanted to screw one of you two!" he caught his mouth after the words blurted out, shocked at his own moment of clarity. Jimmy gave him a look that was partly insulted and the rest impressed.

"Don't you, Petey?" he said with a soft, tempting edge, and then leant over, almost like he was planning to kiss him. Petey's eyes bulged and he just stared dead ahead. Jimmy got within about an inch of him and then started to laugh. "Holy shit, you look like you're about to pass out," he snorted, thumping Petey on the back.

"Whu-what?" he murmured. "Th-that was just a joke?"

"It wasn't a joke," Jimmy chuckled. "I probably wouldn't've stopped if you'd looked at me different."

"Like Gary looked?" he found himself saying before he thought about it, and Jimmy hit him with a dentist's drill of a gaze. Like he was going to pull open Pete's mouth and rip out the teeth from a mouth that'd said such a thing.

"No," he said quietly. "If you'd looked like that I woulda sent you packing to Happy Volts. We only got room for one looney toons in here."

"Okay, not like that," Pete insisted, determined to make his point. "But... what did you see?"

"What?" Jimmy put plainly.

"I mean... what did you see in Gary."

Something he didn't see in Pete, that differential that only Jimmy seemed to notice.

"Oh I dunno," he spat coldly. "All that concerns me is if I wanna fuck someone and if they wanna fuck me back, Petey. Ain't anything more complicated than that."

"So what about Gar-"

"Gary, Gary!" he growled. "You're soundin' like a broken record. It's like I just said. He wanted to and I figured I'd give it a go. Shut him up for once."

"Even though he says all that stuff about gays-"

"He says a lot of shit," Jimmy dismissed, "but I don't think he's gay or straight, Petey. I think Gary wants to fuck exactly who he wants to fuck, and his reasons have nothin' to do with whether it's a dude or a girl."

"Oh," he murmured, wondering when the matter of sexuality stopped being so simple. He was happier before, when he assumed that everyone liked girls; when there was no risk of thinking Jimmy was hitting on him, or Gary having his whatever it was he had going on.

"But the fact of the matter is Gary pissed off weeks ago," Jimmy announced absolutely. "So I ain't seen any piece of him for more than thirty seconds."

"O-okay," Pete sighed. "I didn't mean to piss you off, Jimmy," he offered apologetically. "I was just... uh, just-"

"Curious?" Jimmy taunted. "Sure, man, it figures. Well you know if you get curious about any of this shit first hand my door is always open." Petey laughed, thinking it was a joke, and realised moments later Jimmy was giving him a filthy look for scorning what he clearly considered an honest proposition.

"Oh... I... well... thanks?" he struggled to say.

"Sure, Petey," Jimmy said with a snort of amusement, standing up and stretching out his arms. "You wanna go do something?" Petey gave him a look of horror for a second, and then realised that he didn't mean it in a sexual way and felt ashamed for making snap assumptions.

"Okay," he consented, getting up too. "That'd be cool." Making their way into Bullworth Vale, it was just like old times - where Pete could hang out with Jimmy without Gary storming in and stealing the show.

By the time they got back, though, there was already a student waiting up for Jimmy with a bone to pick over some outrageous rumour - courtesy of G. Smith himself - and Petey did not like the look on Jimmy's face one bit. With things going like this, something was going to give out sooner or later, and Petey didn't know what worried him more; that one of them might seriously hurt the other, or that they'd work it out and end up together again.


	7. AN: Finished

A/N: If anyone reading on here hasn't already gone over to LJ for the rest of the fic, do so now. I don't intend to post the rest of this story up here on my profile because of the hassles and nature of a lot of the chapters, so if you want to read on, it is in its completed state on the Bully_BL Livejournal community. Thanks for reading.


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